A new report from the state auditor found
Cincinnati Public Schools and Winton Woods City Schools manipulated
attendance data for the 2011-2012 school year, but the report seems to
lay much of the blame on state policy, not just irresponsible school
districts.

State auditor lays blame on state policy

A new report from the state auditor found Cincinnati
Public Schools (CPS) and Winton Woods City Schools were manipulating
attendance data for the 2011-2012 school year, but the report seems to lay
much of the blame on state policy, not just irresponsible school
districts.
CPS and Winton Woods were cited among nine
school districts by State Auditor Dave Yost for improperly withdrawing
students from enrollment. More than 70 other schools had errors in their
attendance reporting, but they were not found to be purposely
manipulating — or “scrubbing” — attendance data.
The report largely focused on flaws in state policy that enable bad attendance
reporting — particularly a single “count week” in October that
encourages school districts to boost attendance during that one week and
no other time in the school year.
“Kids count every day, all year long,” Yost said in a
statement. “They deserve better than what we're giving them — Ohio's
current system for measuring attendance and performance is obsolete and
in too many places, filled with error and bad information and even
outright fraud. It's amazing that it works at all, and sometimes, it
doesn't.”
As a solution, Yost is calling on legislators to change school funding so it’s based on year-long attendance reporting.
The report also made 12 other recommendations, including
increased oversight and monitoring, more programs for at-risk students,
better training, use of automated data reporting, more accessibility to
pertinent information for the Ohio Department of Education and clearer
rules.
Winton Woods was one of the few schools to self-report
issues to the auditor. Jim Smith, interim superintendent of Winton
Woods, admits the school made mistakes and will make adjustments. But he says most of the issues
were explained away as errors, not intentional data manipulation. Only four
of the 15 issues
couldn’t be reasonably explained, according to Smith.
Smith says the Education Management Information System (EMIS), which is used to report attendance data, is problematic for highly mobile
students, particularly in urban school districts. He argues the system
is too complicated and difficult to use for tracking such students.
In a Feb. 8 press release, Winton Woods claimed
the reporting issues were related to confusion regarding expelled
students, poor record keeping and a lack of well-defined procedures and
reporting systems.
In an emailed statement, CPS Superintendent Mary Ronan wrote the school district made mistakes, but internal audits did not find evidence of data manipulation or scrubbing. She linked the errors to confusing state policy and issues with highly mobile students.
School attendance data is one of many ways states measure
school performance, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.Update (Feb. 12, 10:29 a.m.): Originally, this story did not include comments from CPS. It was updated to reflect comments CityBeat obtained after publishing.

A Purcell Marian High School administrator was fired
for declaring his public support for same-sex marriage. Mike Moroski,
who was the assistant principal at the Catholic school, wrote about his
support for LGBT equality on his personal blog.
Following the blog post, Moroski claims he was given an ultimatum by
the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to resign or recant his statements. CityBeat covered same-sex marriage and the amendment that could bring marriage equality to Ohio here.
A board vote failed to remove State Board of Education President Debe Terhar from her position. In response, Ohio Democrats filed a lawsuit
seeking access to her cell phone and other records. Terhar has been
receiving heavy criticism for a Facebook post that compared President
Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. CityBeat wrote about Terhar’s ridiculous Facebook post here.
Cincinnati Public Schools and Winton Woods City Schools were among nine city school districts found to be scrubbing attendance data
by the state auditor. The school districts claim most the errors were
simple mistakes, not intentional manipulation of data. Both the auditor
and schools agree state policy is too confusing and must change.
The city of Cincinnati is beginning the process of sorting through construction bids for the streetcar. Three bids ranging from $71 million to $87 million have already come to light, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The bids could push up the price tag on the streetcar, but
Meg Olberding, city spokesperson, cautions the process is barely starting. CityBeat covered the streetcar and how it relates to the mayor’s race here.
Cincinnati is speeding up the demolitions of condemned buildings this year, particularly buildings near schools and family zones.
A new report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services found
employment in the shale industry was up 17 percent in the first quarter
of 2012. Critics caution the jobs aren’t worth the risks —
pointing to a number of environmental and health concerns related to hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking.” CityBeat wrote about fracking and its extensive problems here.
One in 25 students in Columbus schools are restrained or secluded.
The state’s lax seclusion policies have been under heavy criticism in
the past year following the discovery that school staff were using
seclusion for convenience, not just to restrain students.
On Wednesday, Metro staff will be holding a security
exercise meant to gauge counterterrorism capabilities. Metro bus service
will not be affected.
The Horseshoe Casino pays homage to Liuzhou, China — Cincinnati’s sister city of 25 years.
The chief curator resigned from the Cincinnati Art Museum.
A Cincinnati woman was charged with helping her daughter beat up a student during a classroom brawl.
Curiosity is officially the first robot to drill another planet.

In response to Democratic mayoral candidate John Cranley’s
call for a debate, the campaign for Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, another
Democratic candidate for mayor, is calling both campaigns to schedule a
series of debates. Jens Sutmoller, Qualls’ campaign manager, said in a
statement, “Vice Mayor Qualls believes the citizens of Cincinnati
deserve a robust series of public debates between the two final 2013
Mayoral candidates. She looks forward to articulating her optimistic
vision of Cincinnati’s future and the investments we need to make in our
neighborhoods and city to achieve a welcoming city of opportunity for
all our citizens.”
Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) are being used as a model
by other schools around the state and country. Other schools are
particularly interested in Cincinnati’s community learning centers,
which provide services not directly related to education, including health clinics,
mental health counselors, tutoring programs and extensive after-school
programs. The approach is being praised for making schools serve the
greater needs of communities. CityBeat wrote about CPS and its community learning centers here.
Steve Dyer, an education policy fellow at Innovation Ohio, says Gov. John Kasich’s school education plan actually does the opposite
of what Kasich claimed: “However, after examining the
district-by-district runs produced by the Kasich Administration
yesterday (which I posted at Innovation Ohio earlier), what is clear
that even without eliminating the guaranteed money Kasich said he wants
to eliminate soon, kids in the poorest property wealth districts in the
state will receive 25 cents in additional state revenue for every $1
received by kids in the property wealthiest districts.” A CityBeat analysis found the education plan increases funding for Cincinnati Public Schools, but not enough to make up for past cuts.
The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State and Miami University are getting slight increases in funding under Kasich’s higher education funding plan.
The plan increases overall higher education funding by 1.9 percent,
with UC getting 2.4 percent more funding, Cincinnati State getting 4
percent more and Miami getting 1.8 percent more. The increased funding
should be helpful to Miami University, which recently initiated $99 million in summer construction and renovation projects. Historically, Ohio has given its universities less funding per pupil than other parts of the country.
An appeals court ruling could put the Anna Louise Inn back at square one.
On Friday, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals affirmed most of a
lower court’s ruling against the Anna Louise Inn, but it sent the case
back down to the lower court on a legal technicality. The ruling means
the case could restart, but Tim Burke, the inn's attorney, claims the Anna Louise Inn has already done what the appeals court asked. For CityBeat’s other coverage of the Anna Louise Inn, click here.
Media outlets are finally picking up the story about illegal immigrants and driver’s licenses. Gongwer wrote about it here, and The Columbus Dispatch covered it here. CityBeat originally wrote about the story last week (“Not Legal Enough,” issue of Feb. 6).
Following the board president’s comparison of Adolf Hitler and President Barack Obama, the Ohio State Board of Education is set to discuss social media. CityBeat wrote about Board President Debe Terhar’s ridiculous Facebook post here.
Remember the Tower Place Mall! Two tenants are holding out at the troubled mall as they look for different downtown locations.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine wants everyone to know he’s still cracking down on synthetic drugs.
The pope is stepping down.
How kids draw dinosaurs is probably wrong.

Budget increases aren’t enough to overcome troubled past

Gov. John Kasich touted a rosy, progressive vision when announcing his education reform plan Jan. 31, but reality does not match the governor’s optimism. It’s true Kasich’s proposed 2014-2015 budget
will not reduce school funding, but under the Kasich administration,
local schools will still have a net loss in state funds.
The governor’s office released tentative budget numbers yesterday that show the Kasich plan will give Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) $8.8 million more funding for the 2014 fiscal year. But that’s not enough to make up for the $39 million CPS will lose in the same fiscal year due to Kasich’s first budget, which was passed passed in 2011. Even with the new education plan, the net loss in the 2014 fiscal year is $30.2 million.
The problem is Kasich’s first budget had massive cuts for schools. The elimination of the tangible personal
property reimbursements (TPP) hit CPS particularly hard, as CityBeat previously covered (“Battered But Not Broken,”
issue of Oct. 3). In the Cut Hurts Ohio website, Innovation Ohio and Policy Matters Ohio estimated Kasich’s budget cuts resulted in $1.8 billion less funding for
education statewide. In Hamilton County, the cuts led to
$117 million less funding.
Kasich’s massive cuts didn’t even lead to lower taxes for many Ohioans. A report from Innovation Ohio found
school districts and voters made up for the big education cuts with $487 million in new school levies. In 2012, Cincinnati voters approved a $51.5 million levy for CPS. The school levies are a direct
increase on local income and property taxes, but they’re measures
Ohioans clearly felt they had to take in the face of big state
budget cuts.
For more analysis of Kasich’s budget, check out CityBeat’s other coverage:
Kasich Tax Cut Favors WealthyGovernor’s Budget Ignores Troubled PastKasich Budget Expands Medicaid, Cuts Taxes

Gov. John Kasich’s school funding plan may not be so progressive after all. In his initial announcement,
Kasich promised the program will be more progressive by raising
funding to poorer schools, but this
fact from StateImpact Ohio
seems to contradict that claim: “Under the projections released by the
state, a suburban district like Olentangy that has about $192,000 of
property value per student would get a more than three-fold increase in
state funding. Meanwhile, Noble Local, a small rural district with about
$164,000 of property wealth per student sees no increase in state
funding.” The Toledo Blade found Kasich’s education plan favors suburban schools. The Akron Beacon Journal pulled numbers that show rich, growing school districts will do fine under the plan. According to The Columbus Dispatch, 60 percent of Ohio schools will not see increases in funding from Kasich’s plan.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is now shying away
from statutory guarantees for northern Ohio in the Ohio Turnpike plan.
Originally, Kasich promised 90 percent of Ohio Turnpike funds will
remain in northern Ohio, albeit with a fairly vague definition of
northern Ohio. Now, even that vague 90 percent doesn’t seem to be
sticking around. But the plan would still be a massive job-creating
infrastructure initiative for the entire state. The Ohio Turnpike runs
along northern Ohio, so changes to fees and the road affect people living north the most.
WLWT published a thinly veiled criticism of local teacher
salaries. The article pointed out Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) pays
45 of its employees more than $100,000 a year.
Of those people, 42 are administrators and three are teachers. In
comparison, the highest paid Cleveland school teacher makes $86,000. The
article also glances over the fact CPS is “the number one urban-rated
school district in the state” to point out the school district is still
lacking in a few categories. As CPS Board President Eileen Reed points
out, a school district needs to attract better educators with higher
salaries if it wants to improve. Paying teachers less because the school
district is performing worse would only put schools in a downward
spiral as hiring standards drop alongside the quality of education.
County commissioners seem supportive
of Kasich’s budget. Republican commissioners Chris Monzel and Greg
Hartmann said the budget could be “revolutionary” by changing how county
governments work. Democratic Commissioner Todd Portune highlighted the
Medicaid expansion in the budget. As “revolutionary” as the budget
could be, it’s not enough to make up for Ohio and Kasich’s troubled past.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was ranked the third best pediatric hospital in the United States by Parents magazine.
The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments
is looking for comments on updating the region’s bike map. Anyone who
wants a say should leave a comment here.
The upcoming Horseshoe Casino is partnering up with local hotels to offer a free shuttle service that will seamlessly carry visitors around town.
One courageous grandma stood up
to an anti-gay pastor. During a sermon, the pastor outed a gay high
school student and told everyone they would "work together to address
this problem of homosexuality." At that point, the grandma snapped at
the pastor, “There are a lot of problems here, and him being gay is not
one of them.” She then apologized to the boy and walked out.
Music has a lot of effects on the brain. Here is an infographic that shows them.
Bonus science news: Earth-like planets could be closer than most people think.

Local unemployment unchanged, schools could open enrollment, 2013 challenges schools

Facing tight budgets, Ohio schools, including Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), are considering open enrollment.
The move would open school doors to neighboring communities. It was
previously considered by CPS a decade ago, but the plan didn’t have
enough support from the district’s board. It might now.Next year could be challenging for Ohio schools.
Butler County schools will begin the year by implementing a transition
to the Common Core Curriculum, new evaluations for teachers and a new
method of rating and grading schools. The state is also expected to
change the school funding formula.Cincinnati’s
seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate remained relatively flat at 6.9
percent in November, according to data from the Ohio Department of Jobs
and Family Services. The city’s unemployment did not tick up or down
from the 6.9 percent rate in October, but about 1,300 dropped out from
the civilian labor force as it shrank from 145,600 in October to 144,300
in November. Hamilton County also remained flat at 6.3 percent as 3,500
left the labor force. Greater Cincinnati ticked up to 6.2 percent from
6.1 percent, with about 6,900 leaving the labor force between October
and November. In comparison, the state had a seasonally unadjusted rate
of 6.5 percent and nation had a seasonally unadjusted rate of 7.4
percent in November. Unemployment numbers are calculated through a
household survey. The unemployment rate gauges the amount of unemployed
people looking for work in contrast to the total civilian labor force.
Since the numbers are derived from surveys, they are often revised in
later months. Federal and state numbers are typically adjusted for
seasonal factors.Police in Kentucky are now using playing cards to catch suspects.
Trooper Michael Webb says the effort has helped crack three out of 52
cases so far. That may not seem like a lot, but Webb puts it in
perspective: “Two of the cases were double homicides so that's four
families that have gotten closure and have had some kind of ability to
deal with the situation. The third one was a single murder and obviously
that family has been able to have closure. So we've got five families
that have been able to have closure as a result of this initiative.”Another casualty of the fiscal cliff: milk. It turns out milk prices could soar to $7 a gallon as Congress fails to adopt a farm bill. President Barack Obama and legislators are expected to discuss a fiscal cliff deal today.As some companies shift to social media, Facebook may topple CareerBuilder for job opportunities.On Christmas Day, 17.4 million smart devices turned on for the first time. In the first 20 days of December, only 4 million Android and iOS devices were turned on.What does 2013 hold for science and technology? Popular Science takes a look. Expect more supercomputers and less solar activity!Here is the dorkiest, cutest marriage proposal ever.

Cincinnati Public Schools seems to be playing a big role in reforming Ohio’s school funding formula.
Superintendent Mary Ronan got a call from Gov. John
Kasich’s office about the per-pupil funding formula CPS uses to
distribute funds to its schools. It seems the state might adopt a similar
method, but Ronan is cautious: “I do think it's one of the ways you
could do it, a per-pupil funding, but I have to say, we were always
tweaking every year ... because sometimes those formulas can be a bit off
and any time we saw one school getting a lot more than another ... we
tried to refine it every year over probably the 15 years we have used
it.” She also notes schools are getting “bare minimum” funding right
now. CityBeat covered budget problems at CPS here.
In general, state budget cuts have led to fewer teachers in Ohio schools. Gov. Kasich previously urged schools to focus on classroom instruction, but it seems the words aren't being followed up with proper funding.
Southwestern Ohio judges are clashing over double-dipping.
The practice involves government workers retiring and getting rehired
so they can collect pensions and a paycheck at the same time. At a
meeting, Hamilton County Judge Melba Marsh said she wants to allow
Magistrate Michael Bachman to retire and then be rehired so he doesn't
lose a 3-percent increase to his retirement, which is otherwise being
eliminated by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System after 2012.
But the move has been met with resistance from other judges.
For Cincinnati hospitals, Medicare changes mean some loss and some gain.
The online campaign urging Macy’s to dump Donald Trump circled a “Dump Trump” billboard around Macy’s headquarters. The anti-Trump movement has gained about 680,000 signatures since it started.
On Christmas Eve, some spent time with family, while Butler County Deputy David Runnells helped deliver a baby in the back of a car during an emergency call.
Ohio will use $20 million out of $200 million in casino funds to train incumbent workers. Gov. Kasich says the program could help avoid layoffs.
It seems Mitt Romney's presidential campaign really thought they were going to win.
In campaign memos leading up to the election, campaign staff said the
race was “unmistakably moving in Mitt Romney’s direction,” and the
campaign ridiculed the possibility of losing Ohio due to the Romney
campaign’s “better ground game.” But President Barack Obama had a much larger
ground game for one-on-one interaction, which is one of the factors
former Romney staff now say led to their demise. But whatever. Romney didn't want to be president, anyway, says son Tagg Romney: “He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to ... run.”
Fiscal cliff talks aren’t going well. President Obama cut his vacation early to work out negotiations.
If Republicans and Democrats can’t work out their problems, a series of
spending cuts and tax hikes dubbed the “fiscal cliff” will kick in
throughout 2013. But it’s looking more and more likely the nation will head
off the cliff, considering U.S. Speaker John Boehner can’t even pass tax hikes on people making more than $1 million a year.
Ever wonder what dinosaur meat would taste like? Well, Popular Science has that covered.